This battle was fought at Friedland in Prussia on 14th June 1807, between 71,000 men of the French army, under Napoleon, and 76,000 of the Russians under Count von Bennigsen, a German general in the Russian army. The French utterly destroyed Bennigsen's army, forcing it to retreat over the river Alle, where many drowned. This defeat led Tsar Alexander I to sue for peace at the Treaty of Tilsit that July, ending the War of the Fourth Coalition.

The term typhus comes from the Greek word typhos, 'hazy', which describes the stupor that is a common symptom of the disease. Epidemics of typhus occurred in many wars, including the English Civil War, the Thirty Years' War and the Napoleonic Wars. During Napoleon's retreat from Moscow typhus killed more French soldiers than the Russian army did. Other symptoms of the disease include abdominal pains, joint pains, rashes, coughs, fever, low blood pressure and nausea and vomiting. The first typhoid vaccine was invented in the interwar period of the twentieth century by a Polish biologist, Rudolf Weigl.

Napoleon and Alexander meet on a raft in the Niemen River at Tilsit. Painting by Adolphe Roehn

As mentioned above, the Treaty of Tilsit was forced upon Tsar Alexander I after the distastrous defeat at Friedland. The punitive treaty saw Prussia lose around half of its territory, but Russia came out of it quite lightly, with a new treaty of cooperation between France and Russia. Napoleon and Alexander met on a raft in the middle of the river Niemen to discuss terms, beginning an alliance that pledged mutual support against their enemies: France would support Russia in her troubles with the Ottoman Empire and Russia would join France's Continental System against the British Empire. Overnight, Napoleon went from being the enemy of Russia to her closest ally, a position many found uncomfortable.